Jun 09, 2017

A progressive rural reflection on "DFL Divide"

DIVIDE: A protest at the DFL’s annual Humprhey-Mondale dinner that included a number of gubernatorial candidates over immigrant drivers licenses was cancelled late Friday. The move that shows DFL chair Ken Martin still holds the power and sway to unite the party. Martin’s attempt to keep the party together despite a growing gap between the immigrant/environmental activists and the job/labor activists will be a major challenge in 2018 with a crowded gubernatorial election. The interesting dynamic is the role of DNC member Javier Morillo-Alicea the SEIU 26 leader who helped organize the protest. Morillo is seen by many as a major power broker in much of the pull of the DFL to the left just as has happened in Minneapolis. DFLers fear that if Minneapolis is evidence, that the state party, and candidates for statewide office will be pulled to the left, focusing on issues that mainstream Minnesotans don’t care about and therefore giving Republican’s an advantage in 2018.

Bluestem was puzzled by this frame. We consider Javier a dear friend, a friendship he initiated after reading our copy about immigration politics in Southern Minnesota early in our blogging career. We're not as fond of Ken Martin, but for a number of reasons don't believe casting party tensions surrounding the 2018 gubernatorial race as a personality contest is a particularly helpful strategy for the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.

First, we were curious which DFLers were afraid. Next, we were puzzled about which issues Morillo-Alicea cares about that these faceless Democrats and "mainstream Minnesotans" don't. Indeed, the punchlist of immigration reform, strong defense of the environment, and good jobs with fair pay all seem core values of the DFL.

Olson's copy mentions "immigrant/environmental activists." As we posted in early March in Via MN Environmental Partnership: #mnleg rollbacks out of step with what Minnesotans want, 62 percent of Minnesotans surveyed agreed that our state's environmental laws should be tougher or better enforced. We care deeply as citizens and outdoor enthusiasts; here in Big Stone County, much of the concern centers around 26-mile-long Big Stone Lake, the headwaters of the Minnesota River. It's a sight to see.

Martin himself has been in the street outside the Governor's sons' restaurant on behalf of immigrants. He not only shares this value, he lifted it high at the May 28 protest, as a second photograph illustrates:

Perhaps Morillo-Alicea's critics are whispering sweet nothings into Olson's ear about preemption laws and local control. Here, too, we're baffled, since the ability of Minneapolis and other local governments to set wage and benefit standards, regulate or ban plastic bags and other such items also enjoyed wide public support across the state.The Star Tribune reported in Most Minnesotans say Legislature should not block cities on wages, sick leave:

A majority of Minnesotans do not support a Republican initiative at the Legislature to block cities from setting their own workplace rules like local minimum wages and employer sick leave mandates.

The Star Tribune Minnesota Poll found 60 percent of voters statewide said they believe the Legislature should not approve such limits. Another 26 percent said the state should take such action; the rest were not sure.

Republican majorities in the House and Senate passed bills this year to repeal new sick-leave ordinances in Minneapolis and St. Paul, and to prevent all Minnesota cities from setting their own rules on wages, sick leave and other workplace benefits.

The measure’s backers say wide disparities in workplace rules between cities could hurt businesses. Opponents charge that it’s an attempt to strip local control by lawmakers with little knowledge of individual cities’ needs.

We're also curious why a labor leader whose local's members have conducted successful drives that have brought thousands of new members into the ranks of organized labor is being cast as an enemy of labor. And of "mainstream Minnesotans."

This puzzling personalization and placebaiting (Minneapolis versus "mainstream Minnesota") doesn't spell victory. Rather, it's the same Republican Lite version spawned by those in the DFL unwilling and unable to articulate the party's values, values largely shared by Minnesotans. It didn't work in 2014 and it didn't work in 2016's DFL Rural Initiative.

Curiously, the progressive values surrounding local control, respect for all workers, protecting the natural environment--Minnesota values--are also shared by Martin and Morillo-Alicea. Here are couple more good Minnesota values those anonymous naysayers might consider adopting for the fight ahead: respect and cooperation. Come out of the Republican Lite, stop being afraid of your own shadow, and win.

Morillo-Alicea and the issues for which he fights aren't your foe. Hint: it's the Republicans.

Image: Mainstream Minnesota support for local control. Via the Star Tribune.

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